A quick note on CISPA and related bills

Well here we are again. We knew it was coming but most of did not suspect it would come so soon. It hasn't even been five months since the worldwide PIPA & SOPA protests and Congress is back to playing its standard game of slashing and burning what we hold most important for the sake of their personal agendas. The bills of PIPA & SOPA are effectively dead, but their text is being broken up into pieces and has been put into other bills and what they represent lives on. I do not want to alarm you, the person reading thing, but you should starring long and hard at what is going on right now. We are on the precipice of something horrible happening and if we do not fight again, we will lose horribly and our personal freedoms will be maimed and impacted far beyond what we can see as the initial impact: As of today this is where we stand: 1. SOPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act) is effectively dead 2. PIPA (The PROTECT IP Act) is effectively dead 3. [CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act)](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3523:) has passed the House of Representatives with [248 yes, 168 no, and 15 abstained votes.](http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/house-representatives-passes-privacy-busting-cispa) 4. [Cybersecurity Act 2012](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.2105:) 5. [SECURE IT Act](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.2151:). 6. [PRECISE Act](http://homeland.house.gov/bill/hr-3674-promoting-and-enhancing-cybersecurity-and-information-sharing-effectiveness-act-2011) Currently there are four bills in Congress that stand to wipe away the privacy, the anonymity, and the freedom we take advantage of every day. If any one of these bills makes it through Congress the internet as we know it is effectively over. This is a zero sum situation and we have to act again. **Let us begin with CISPA:** - [Accusations & source information against CISPA. That thread is full of information](http://www.listnook.com/r/politics/comments/spxx4/this_is_cispa_explained_sopa_was_meant_to_stop/c4g3bv3) - [Even with Rogers’ Amendments, CISPA is Still a Surveillance Bill](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/even-rogers-amendments-cispa-still-surveillance-bill) - [By including the word "notwithstanding," CISPA's drafters intended to make their legislation trump all existing federal and state civil and criminal laws. It would render irrelevant wiretap laws, Web companies' privacy policies, educational record laws, medical privacy laws, and more.](http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57419540-281/opposition-grows-to-cispa-big-brother-cybersecurity-bill/) - [Cyber Intelligence Bill Threatens Privacy and Civilian Control](https://www.cdt.org/blogs/greg-nojeim/112cyber-intelligence-bill-threatens-privacy-and-civilian-control) - [How The Expansive Immunity Clauses in CISPA Will Facilitate Abuse of User Privacy](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/how-expansive-immunity-clauses-cispa-will-facilitate-abuse-user-privacy-0) - [What is CISPA and how it affects you FAQ](http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57422693-281/how-cispa-would-affect-you-faq/) - [Four things to know about CISPA](http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/04/four-things-to-know-about-cispa) - [Congress Braces for Battle over Cybersecurity Bill (Mention of Freedom of Information Act Implications)](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/23/congress-braces-for-battle-over-cybersecurity-bill.html) - [Companies and Agencies already share essential information. Why is CISPA needed?](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120426/16471718672/law-enforcement-already-has-way-to-share-cybersecurity-info-with-companies-why-do-we-need-cispa.shtml) - [The Political Effects of Conflating Separate Meanings of "Cybersecurity"](https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/political-effects-conflating-separate-meanings) - [Administration pushes against bipartisan House cybersecurity legislation](http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/222143-white-house-criticizes-cybersecurity-bill-cispa) **Next up is the Cybersecurity Act of 2012:** - [Cybersecurity Act May Challenge Public's Right to Know](http://www.c-span.org/Events/Cybersecurity-Act-May-Challenge-Publics-Right-to-Know/10737429000/) - [The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 is a fix for a problem that was never a problem.](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401225,00.asp) - [Does The Cybersecurity Act Of 2012 Mark The Beginning Of The War On Cyber-terrorism?](http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/02/22/does-the-cybersecurity-act-of-2012-mark-the-beginning-of-the-war-on-cyber-terrorism/) **Now we move onto the SECURE IT Act:** [Civil libertarians slam McCain cybersecurity bill](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/06/us-usa-cybersecurity-idUSTRE8251L820120306) - [McCain cybersecurity bill aims for legal frameworks, updates, not structural changes](http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/mccain-cybersecurity-bill-aims-legal-frameworks-updates-not-structural-chan/2012-03-05) - [White House pans GOP cybersecurity bill](http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/213877-white-house-pans-gop-cybersecurity-bill) - [McCain, GOP Leaders Intro Cybersecurity Bill Alternative](http://www.csoonline.com/article/701303/mccain-gop-leaders-intro-cybersecurity-bill-alternative) - [Senators Clash Over Cybersecurity Legislation](http://www.govtech.com/security/Senators-Clash-Over-Cybersecurity-Legislation.html) - [Senate cybersecurity bill leaves Internet alone, exempts tech companies from oversight](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/senate-cybersecurity-bill.ars) **Last but not least we have the PRECISE ACT:** **A Comparison Analysis of the Four Current Bills:** - [An image comparing SOPA & CISPA](http://i.imgur.com/ga3Pb.jpg) - [CDT: Cybersecurity Bill Comparison Chart](https://www.cdt.org/paper/cybersecurity-chart) - [CDT: Analysis of Senate Cybersecurity Bills 2012.](https://www.cdt.org/report/analysis-senate-cybersecurity-bills-2012) - [EFF: Four Unanswered Questions About the Cybersecurity Bills](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/four-unanswered-questions-about-cybersecurity-bills) - [Comparing the Senate Cybersecurity Liability Provisions](http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/03/comparing-the-senate-cybersecurity-liability-provisions/) As it stands now, days after the House of Representatives passed CISPA, we are poised with the questions of: Who, what, where, and why? While many of the answers to those questions can be found in the links posted above the biggest reason as to why major companies like Google, Facebook, and even listnook have not spoken out vehemently against these bills is simple. They actually stand to benefit from them in some ways. CISPA was crafted from the ground up, with the help of some of these very major tech companies and the NSA, so the debacle of SOPA & PIPA wouldn't happen again. Instead of having to fight against companies and their users they now just have to worry about your average joe getting upset. Doing this paints a much smaller target on the bill and makes it that much more challenging for us to prevent the abuses that are poised to come from CISPA and the additional 'cybersecurity' bills. Many are calling for blackouts again but unfortunately Congress is trying a new and incredibly effective strategy this time. They are dividing us from the companies that assisted us last time. In the language of CISPA it has been found, cut and dry, that most companies will be given immunity from what goes on within their enterprises so long as they hand over your information en mass. This means that your user profile, your personal information, your comment history, the websites you link to, and even possibly what you like of Facebook and similar websites will be handed over to the government. To make matters even worse, the government will essentially bribe these companies by paying them to hand over the data. Congress did something cunningly smart, they made it so the only allies the common user has are themselves. Listnook INC as a company has no good reason to speak up loudly in support like they did with PIPA & SOPA. The reason is that they actually come to benefit from CISPA. /r/ExplainItLikeImFive puts it nicely: >[Basically it allows companies to provide the federal government with data concerning "cybersecurity threats" without liability. Currently most large websites have a Privacy Policy which normally states that companies will not voluntarily share your data. If they did share your data, then you could likely successfully sue them. CISPA protects companies from lawsuits if they share data concerning "cybersecurity threats" with the federal government. So companies like Facebook and Google tend to like the bill because it shields them from liability.](http://www.listnook.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/sujsu/what_is_cispa/) We must not, we cannot, allow these companies to ever believe that that selling out the user and throwing them under the bus can be part of their business model. It must be a concrete, inseparable, fact that our interests are the companies interest. You and I stood up and fought in the ways that we could to protect these companies like Google, Facebook, even Listnook INC from PIPA & SOPA. They need to do their damnedest to do the same for us. The ridiculously overused saying by pastor Martin Niemöller best fits here: >First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. >Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. >Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. >Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. [**There is a part two to this. There won't be anymore 'inspiring quotes' either!**](http://www.listnook.com/r/announcements/comments/sxdxv/a_quick_note_on_cispa_and_related_bills/c4hs5v3)

Black outs will not continue to work guys. They continually lose their effectiveness every time you do them. There are 4-5 f****** bills being considered right now for internet censorship, do you really think that Google and Wikipedia are going to shut down their shit that many times, and who knows how many in the future? Or are we naive enough to think that just blacking out Listnook will make a difference? We need these people out of office, and need to spread awareness that this is not ok. There are initiatives all across the board for doing so, and supporting them and getting involved is our best shot. EDIT: some awesome information on CISPA and the upcoming bills and what you can do to help (in addition to Alexander_X_Blakes information) **HERE IT IS**--------> [Info](http://www.listnook.com/r/announcements/comments/sxdxv/a_quick_note_on_cispa_and_related_bills/c4hs04e)

I DISAGREE - Regarding not Blacking out. Here is why... A. They keep coming with the same attacks, just written differently every time, we must do the same. The blackout brings a gigantic black open enrollment form for all of the internet who has no idea regarding CISPA or related bills (very effective). Although I will agree they lose their effectiveness over time, this method is still and has been in the past an amazing attribute that we have created within. B. We need to gather as a community outside of these wires and circuits. We need to hit the streets, Remember that retarded KONY 2012 Thing? DO you realize how effective that was?! We need to revamp the idea and start a creation of our own, vimeo videos, a day to repeal, meetings and hit the f****** streets. C. News, Who are listnooks allies? Websites, Talk Show Hosts? The Huff Post or Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, NO matter what it is, we need to either have the admins contact them and work something out or we need to continue to multiply emails to these people and have them work with us, This costs us nothing but our time, the time we are choosing how to live it. Lets not stop. D. Can we form Donations? Billboards, commercials, whatever we have to do to gain exposure. E.[/r/fia](/r/fia) Free Internet Activism - Everyone should at the minimum glance this page. F. Admins/Someone Important/Potato_in_my_anus Please create an asklistnook topic to figure out where and how we should start first and make this hit the front page, If I were to create it I feel as if It would not get proper exposure, we are the most powerful internet group out their, let us know how we can agree to come together. Adding on to this list or critiques are encouraged. This is where we need to start moving and if you're waiting, you need to realize quickly, we have no time to wait or spare, the time to act is now. EDITS: 1. Grammar 2. DOSKO - Pointed out Listnook has a PAC. 3. Wormy and OLawD has pointed to [/r/FIA](/r/FIA) Which we need to all educate on. 4. KEEP ADDING!!! This list needs to be severely populated with our intelligent, witty, creative and effective ideas, let us display and implement them!

1. **CALL YOUR SENATORS** let them know that you will not vote for them again if they support this. if they get enough calls/emails, they won't vote for it. 2. **GET THE INFORMATION OUT THERE** get to the papers, talk to your friends, post shit on facebook, get #StopCISPA trending, whatever. the main reason the blackout was so effective was because all of the attention that google/wikipedia brought to it caused people to become aware of the issue. if the public knows, this shit will not go down. 3. **BOYCOTT COMPANIES THAT SUPPORT IT** http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/cispa-supporters-list-800-companies-that-could-help-uncle-sam-snag-your-data/ heres a list. this ones a lot harder, but if we all do it, we can change everything. im not saying you need to change your cable company or cell phone plan, but tackle things that can be attacked easily. for example, dont go on google or yahoo if you can avoid it. use another search engine like ask for a while. dont use your visa card. dont go to walmart or target. dont drink coke or pepsi. let these companies know we dont support their stances by hitting their wallets. like i said, it wont be easy, but it will work, guaranteed.

What if we created a Listnook Super PAC with the sole purpose being to combat these "internet security" bills? There's a lot of us, I bet we can get some big donations and make some good TV campaigns. And since we can't all agree on just about any other political issue, we'll put it in the organization's founding documents that this is the only thing it can spend funds on. Thoughts?

Here goes: The community as a whole is framing this argument wrong. CISPA is simultaneously undermining your right to control information about yourself while increasing corporations and governments ability to control information about their operations. The concepts of intellectual property and privacy are entangled and by being re-active instead of pro-active, we're sacrificing liberty so that corporations thrive. The primary purpose behind the design and implementation of the internet was to increase the efficiency of scientific research and development. It is built around the value of collaboration; allowing individuals access to facts and theories so that they can advance the rate of human creativity. We should be writing legislation demanding more transparency of the corporations who are utilizing a government project to increase their profits instead of focusing on hitting back when they try to undermine our liberties. Human beings have a right to privacy. Corporations have no such right. Intellectual property rights choke off creativity and productivity for the sake of constricting the number of people who profit from an idea. Yes, creators deserve to be rewarded fro the production of "content"... but hiding the scientific principles surrounding a new technology or burying studies that call into question the value of a product are both slowing the rate of human advancement. I'm not saying to stop defending the right to control your personal information, but we need to create a threat to the power-base of the people attacking us, or its just going to keep happening over and over. Intellectual property protection that extends beyond the lifetime the inventor is insane. We need to stop thinking in the paradigm of the old guard and start breaking new ground, otherwise we WILL lose the war.

Ok, so what are *you* going to do? This sounds like a lot of verbiage with no real meaning. >but *your* voice is the one that matters here Very much sounds like you're saying "you're on your own for this one". You made it your own mission to get the word out about SOPA, making the announcement that you did and doing the blackout (saying it was all about protecting freedoms), but now you're letting this one slide? It sounds like you're just trying to placate us...poorly. EDIT: Admittedly, CISPA has only just been hitting the frontpage in the past week, and brainstorming with the community is a good idea. But I am wary of the tone of this post, which is too vague and almost makes it sound like Listnook is trying to shirk responsibility.

Turning the fight against these bills into another social media phenomenon sounds like a good idea to me.

Here are my thoughts: . 1: Until they do go away, **has anyone written an application for smart phones** that can alert someone about this sort of thing? The last thing it needs to do is spam me with messages, but I feel that if people could receive a warning when this shit was about to go down, we could mobilize faster. 2: I barely knew a damn thing about CISPA. Has anyone or can anyone **put together a concise explanation of what CISPA is and can someone perhaps make an animation** of it? I literally do not know how to do any of these things, but the hivemind does, and I think that's what makes us strong as a community. I'm honestly not sure what to do offensively for the time being. But one thing has been clear and it's that these attacks are not going away. After we defeat CISPA we need to have a serious conversation about what kind of legislation we need to pass to go on the offensive.

It seems like we should have a r/billReview sublistnook that actually automatically posts each bill that is up for voting and have a group of people who are able to summarize it. Are all bills that are up for a vote automatically posted on a gov web site? Is there an API that would allow us to automate posting a new topic when a new bill comes up with a copy of the bill for reference?

As a non American my first reaction is: "Why should I care". Then I remembered an argument made by a fellow countrymen regarding e-tolling in my province*. If it works there (the USA) it will start to appear closer to home, wherever you live. Bad ideas should be stopped before they are spread by bad people. *In South Africa's most economic active province, Gauteng, the government decided to upgrade the intercity, and urban highways (the province is about 100km x 100km in size) This is a good thing, but later on with terrible communication to the public they decided to errect drive through toll gantries. To the public the documents and information were either censored or jumbled. But the information it did give was that the average worker will pay a lot more to get to work. The cost of of living would also increase significantly, harming the poor. The tolling system would be extremely innefecient, at about 50% admin cost, but it also came to light that a lot of backers and investors in the system will coin it big time. So a cheaper alternitive to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrade would be to increase the fuel levy. People in other provinces and cities said this is unfair since they would have to pay. The argument against this was two-fold. First if the system is succesfull it would start popping up in other urban centres within a couple of years. And second, the Gautng province only keeps 40% of the money it generates in the province. The rest is used to fund other provinces, either by taxes, or by profits from external companies, or by workers sending money to their outer province families. So the argument is weak. My point being, if a bad idea works there, it is a matter of time before it wil raise its ugly head here.

It won't be a free, private, open internet with CISPA. With the threat of there being no internet anonymity, some might argue that free discussions on places such as listnook would no longer exist. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable posting many things on here in asklistnook, iama, or even some of more nsfw threads knowing someday it could be pulled up and pointed to by the government as proof of who knows what. (I understand how that might help in some cases, but really??) Listnook really needs to realize this. Maybe I'm just not that addicted to Listnook, but if CISPA truly passes I will have to quit this site, among others, and I'm sure I can't be the only one. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but whatever! Plenty of generations before us lived with just books and later TV and it might be a nice return to actually going outdoors and a real break from the internet.

Sorry guys, but to be blunt, I really cared about SOPA and PIPA. I was very vocal about it. CISPA has made it obvious our elected officials don't give a flying f*** about us. The best way to fight this one is just vote them out of office. Theres no way to win with this individual bill. But write and call your congressmen and Senators and explain why you will not be voting for them. My local congressman walks through my town every year, right past my front door during our parade. They'll be getting some boo's from me and my friends this year. Help an elected official that DOES care about our rights run for office. Donate to their campaign. Help raise awareness about them. This is the only way we can actually stop this. Because its been made obvious that what we did to SOPA was just a roadblock. Once they see the whole highway is down, only then will things change.

This is a classic non-answer answer. It attempts to paint a picture like "we care" and "your voice is important" by responding in a timely fashion, but without substance; in fact, it even begins to couch the inevitable answer which you will receive; by using terms like "anger" and "confusion" about CISPA, so when they say it really isn't that bad, you might believe them. I've said it for months. The internet went full retard on SOPA, and now privacy will be destroyed. Tech corporations had wildly divergent interests in countering SOPA, but none of them were the reasons people in general cared about; they were all acting in their own self interest with profit in mind (except Wikipedia, they we're pretty good). Anyway, now you're all fucked and the costs will be offloaded to the consumer. Have fun. http://www.listnook.com/r/politics/comments/op9z0/threatening_new_bill_worse_than_sopapipa_make/c3j1j9e http://www.listnook.com/r/politics/comments/op9z0/threatening_new_bill_worse_than_sopapipa_make/c3j1jjj http://www.listnook.com/r/politics/comments/op9z0/threatening_new_bill_worse_than_sopapipa_make/c3j1hl0 http://www.listnook.com/r/politics/comments/p67jz/rep_lamar_smith_author_of_sopa_is_at_it_again/c3mwdbx http://www.listnook.com/r/technology/comments/pndf9/the_pirate_bays_peter_sunde_its_evolution_stupid/c3qsugd Hell, looks like I told kn0thing: "Negotiate a compromise because otherwise you will end up with a shitty bill that destroys the internet." http://www.listnook.com/r/technology/comments/o31og/i_was_on_bloombergtv_talking_sopa_today_howd_i_do/c3eat2l

Heres an idea... Lets all email howard stern about CISPA. Sirius just fucked him out of 300 million dollars@ So even if they support CISPA, he wont give a shit. If enough of us email him I am sure he will mention it on air!! Thats 20MILLION newly informed people instantly!!! You know how much Howard hates the FCC because they monitored every word he said... How is this different!? Here is the link to email him on his site! We can do this! http://www.howardstern.com/contact.hs

There comes a point when you realize fighting this one bill isn't the issue (when there or 4-5 similar bills waiting to take its place if this one isn't passed), and that the bigger problem is a Congress that has a 14% approval rating and no longer gives a shit about their ratings or the people. The real problem is a Congress making decisions based not on the needs of the people but on what corporations want and what would best line up their pockets. So in other words, the real problem is a fundamental flaw in the way this government is being chosen and run. I think I realized that the U.S. Congress was a joke when they spent millions of tax payer's money on investigating steroid use in baseball during a failing economy, failing wars in Iraq, failing health care, and a host of other real problems.

Aren't these bills/legislation like cispa/sopa etc just going to be never ending in the future until the big lobbying companies get there own way? Cynical but realistic attitude until major changes are made with the leaders of this world.

I, for one, want to say thank you for this post. Although it is short, it is good to know that the momentum is building over the weekend, and I look forward to increased discussion and activity of this going into next week. Listnook can be a powerful force when it is focused, and I want to prove everyone wrong who says that we could only be tapped once to stop SOPA.

My concern was when everyone came together to fight SOPA was that the internet, excuse this expression, shot it's collective wad. I was afraid that all "they" have to do is keep coming up with Bills like it and people would eventually get tired of fighting them. I'm worried that this is what's happening now. CISPA is worse than SOPA in it's own way but it's not getting the publicity that SOPA & PIPA got. I wish I was wrong about this but people have short attention spans. We won the battle but will eventually lose the war. I hate to be a pessimist but all it's going take is for "them" to just keep writing these kinds of Bills and eventually people won't care enough to even speak out, at least in the numbers it's going to take to stop it. I'm not going to give up but we won't have internet blackout protests every time one of the Bills comes along. The only thing that will slow them down is if we don't vote for the makers of such Bills and they lose their seats in government. This might serve as a warning. Maybe we could make up some kind of list of the supporters and show how many have lost their seats after an election. Make it public enough that the politicians see people them losing votes because of their support.

The solution, ultimately, is complete civil disobedience. Congress does not have the best interests of even a small majority of Americans at heart. They are betraying us in every way possible, and will continue to build newer, more invasive control mechanisms no matter what we do. Until we rebel and tell them to go to hell.

CISPA is harmless, I completely believe every single breath coming out of Michael Rogers. We don't REALLY need privacy on the internet, what we need is for the government to take copies of everything we do on the internet (Americans) and scrutinize it. Then they need to prosecute all people who chews Laffy Taffy, jerks with there LEFT hand, shaves only half their balls to surprise the girlfriend, scratches their balls and sniffs it, puts mayo on hash browns, and accidentally visiting a jihad website.

**The Online Primary Caucus (TOPC)** Listnook is comprised of liberals, freethinkers, libertarians, pro science agenda caffeinated media influencers. So on a date near the primaries: * 1) get the online privacy listnookors create IRCs/vote mechanism/message boards with some mechanism for controlling bots. One site per congressional district. * 2) People attend the IRC chat site and vote, they select a district leader a Coalition member to act as point person, and a candidate to represent them in the fall. Vote on a list of agenda items. * 3) These winners - the district leaders and their agenda percolate up and we have an online vote perhaps a week later to allow people to digest. * 4) Everyone vows to vote for the Coalition on election day. **Year One goals:** 20 SOPA, CISPA supporters at risk. **Year Three goals:** Congress realizes they must address the Coalition every election. EDIT: modified to IRCs/Vote Mechanism/Message boards with some mechanism for controlling bots.

I know it's been said in here multiple times, but we are many in numbers. We can all contact our senators and let them know this is a horrible act. If ten or twenty do it, fine. If 200 do it, they begin to notice. 2,000? They begin to sweat. 20,000, you get the idea. Whether they listen to us is another thing, but what they need to realize is that we aren't going to give up on this. Free, open communication and the use of this powerful tool is much more than a room full of out of touch, wealthy people that were elected to listen to our requests to make a better society and ultimately, a better world. Our next step, and this is where I may lose some of you is electoral reform. This cannot continue, and if you wish to improve this joke of a political system that was once so great, you must get involved. The internet, listnook particularly is famous for activism that takes a couple clicks. You want change? Fight for it. I'm not talking about violence, it should never come to that. Work to change your political system, get involved on a local level with the candidates running for Senate positions. I've informed one of my Senators (McCain, R-AZ) that due to his work on the NDAA, I will no longer to continue to support him, and I will spread the word. Most people don't even know that NDAA passed, let alone the verbage of this constitutionally-raping, bill of rights-shitting on piece of garbage. That brings us to Mr. Puppet himself. The presidential elections. The third phase must bring back the vote to the majority, not the minorty. The USA's electoral college is a sham, and a travesty to something that most people would jump, run, swim, sign, sell their souls to be a part of: Democracy and the Freedom that goes along with it. Immigrants (both legal and illegal) come to our country, to experience the freedoms America has to offer, and yet we can't control our own political system. It's not that this is something new, it's been happening for a long time, we just know more about it thanks to....wait for it...you guessed it, the **INTERNET**. All of this is rooted in fear. Fear of power of information. Fear of a bunch of people banding together to fight back (as is welcomed and understood in the American Constitution written by our forefathers). This fear is visible by those who are elected by their constitutency. They receive handouts from lobbyists, and can reword a need to tighten watch over piracy in the name of 'job loss'. I know this is from SOPA, but it's still true with CISPA. Look at the Occupy Movement. In it's infancy, the movement was hard to track, plans were hard to follow if you weren't in the know. This was because TPTB couldn't figure out how information was being passed. Much like the tactics of the Arab Spring, the people could stand and pass information, looking as innocent as checking a sports score or reading the news. Then...they caught on. As they started to crack down on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, getting sites to censor, pull down, or delete material completely they've begun to learn. Clever girl. They realize that the delay comes from them, and have learned our weakness....CSPAN. Not many of us watch it, and I'd be curious to find out how many American listnookors understand the actual passing of a bill into law in the USA. Immigrants who pass our citizenship test know more about our processes than we do. We have been lulled into a sense of security by products and our lazy way of life. We cannot allow generation after generation to slip into ignorance of this. If there are any high school listnookors on here, I'm curious as to how much time is spent on the structure of government, it's process, and current affairs. To sum up, knowledge is key, and for the love of dog **contact your senators**. Jam the phones, write emails, write letters, send postcards with the Mr. Yuk face...something, anything.

Everyone always says "vote the bums out" just not "our" bum. Well "our" bum is the only one we have a vote on. To fix this and several other problems it may be necessary for a few babies to go out with the bathwater (though not many) for Washington to realize that we can have a voice in the elections. Who are "your" representatives and how did they vote on this and other bills? When are they up for re-election? Do YOU know?

I think the SOPA blackouts worked well to inform people who would otherwise be ignorant to the situation as well as encourage people to contact their senators/representatives. I'd like to try and organize something similar to raise awareness for CISPA.

To send a signal to Congress that these kinds of legislative initiatives must stop, there are two ways [2] that will help prevent this from happening: 1) vote the people who vote for this kind of legislation out of office and vote for people who won't vote for that kind of legislation [by far the **much preferred** way] 2) destroy the people who vote for this kind of legislation [If nothing else works]

[NOVEMBER](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m36741RBXR1r3273eo1_500.jpg) Remember this in November - don't stand idly by while they pillage our rights. It's not that hard - ***MAKE*** them know that we won't take their shit any longer.

I certainly appreciate hearing this from Listnook, and I think it's pretty awesome. However, there is something that has bothered me for quite some time and I feel it's relevant to get out here on this thread. SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, and now CISPA are all bills well worthy of rallying against. However there are so many things passed over the past year that should've been aggressively opposed, as much so as these "cyber security" bills, and probably more so. My issue why is that sites like Listnook and Google will chomp at the bit to trash these kind of bills that could affect our freedom on the internet but I never see them rally support against things like NDAA and NDRP? The internet is certainly a worthy cause, but the assault on our liberty and freedom is coming from all angles now. We should be taking a stand against these things as well. We have proven how powerful the internet really is, so why don't we use it to protect freedoms outside the internet and fight government on betrayal of ALL of our liberties and rights, not just the internet? Or could it be that even those that we feel are fighting along side us have no interest unless directly threatens their livelihood and revenue? I strongly feel this is the case. Our power is in numbers, and we access the greatest numbers via the internet. NDAA and NDRP were pretty much in a spotlight on Listnook, but no action was taken. Let's change that and restore America now, not rebuild it after it's too late.

The corporations buy off the government. The government then does their bidding, which generally has negative impacts on both the people and the planet (not just the American people, mind you). The government uses the police and the armed forces to enforce the rules they put in place at the demand of the corporations. And the bulk of the money used to pay for the whole show comes from taxes. Taxes are paid by the public, to the government, who spend that money to bully the public into submission. Privatised prisons, corrupt police departments, illegal wars, forcing religion into schools, allowing companies to go unpunished for environmental destruction and endangering the world's food supplies... the list goes on. Spying on the public is just another step towards controlling the population they feed off. Unfortunately, there is no quick and simple answer to this problem. There is no overnight fix. But President Obama is the closest thing you have to a leader you can trust. Show him that you respect him for the things he has done, are disappointed and feeling let-down for the things he has done wrong (in your opinion), and that you still have hope for the future. I think the best way to do this is through an online guide or similar that outlines all the bills and policies in a TLDR format, with the reasons and repercussions for each. Market the hell out of it not just in social media on the web, but in a leaflet drop where everyone able to prints out a dozen fliers a day, begging people to go and get a rough idea of what parties or candidates they can trust, and which ones are shady as f***, (or outright crooks). Then give them a poll to vote on how they feel about each party or candidate. Don't tell them the poll results until the end, so they can see (based on their choices) which party or candidates left them feeling the most confident and which ones feel like slimy crooks. It has to be fair. You can't just say "Listnook feels this way so this is the right way"- it has to be the voice of the people. ALL the people, or as many as you can reach. On the same site, you could list the candidates for each position with a snopes style (crossed with wikipedia style) breakdown of the broken promises, lies told by or about each one, colour coded, with a graph or pie chart showing each group or party's history in regards to racking up debt, starting wars, telling lies to the public, breaking laws, corruption, etc etc etc... Make it simple enough that a casual browser can skim it and get a rough idea of which member or party is the most dirty, the best for the economy, the most reliable, the most war-hungry, has the most ties to corporations, and uses the most underhanded tactics. These are the issues people want to know about, but most don't have the time or motivation to fully investigate for themselves.

Heres an idea... Lets all email howard stern about CISPA. Sirius just fucked him out of 300 million dollars@ So even if they support CISPA, he wont give a shit. If enough of us email him I am sure he will mention it on air!! Thats 20MILLION newly informed people instantly!!! You know how much Howard hates the FCC because they monitored every word he said... How is this different!? Here is the link to email him on his site! We can do this! http://www.howardstern.com/contact.hs

I'm afraid doing the exact same thing again will seem kind of lame in comparison.

The only hope we have is to slam through bills forbidding prospective candidates from accepting money from corporate sources. If a candidate can be found to have accepted so much as a stick of gum or a light for his cigarette from a corporate lobbyist, they're immediately disqualified. If a sitting congressman is found to have done so, they're expelled. Until then, the corporations are eventually going to win every fight like this-they can make themselves much more of a threat to a congressman's re-election than we can. The only problem is that at this point, most of our congressmen would sooner resign than vote yes on such a bill.

Turning it into a media phenomenon is the best idea for the time being. However, we need to make it EASIER for everyone to KNOW who to VOTE for and HOW to vote. If we made it possible for everyone to vote from their computer, even the laziest listnookor will have his/her voice heard. I believe that the problem really stems from the lack of voting participation and general knowledge about the political field.

can I just point out that having a "blackout" isn't going to solve anything, look at SOPA for example, it just killed SOPA and they made a bigger bill, we need to take out the root of the problem.

I have a suggestion to the folks who own and run Listnook: lead by example. The reason why the SOPA protest was so successful was because, beyond the users of social media, the owners of social media sites got directly involved. In the case of CISPA, the major social sites (Facebook, Google, etc) ALREADY collect the data that is asked for in CISPA and ALREADY share, sell and store that data. Social media sites make the bulk of their money selling user data to anyone who is willing to pay for it. If these companies were to come out against CISPA, their very business model could asked to be aired in public, and that is the last thing they want. Did anyone see the expose about the data Facebook is willing to handover on the flimsiest of contexts? It's chilling to say the least. Remember, these are companies that hold not only your name, but address, emails, credit card information, buying patterns, what websites you visit, what you read, what you click and countless other data points. This is information that even those sites who gather it will not share with you, but will release to advertisers. The giant revenue of companies such as Facebook and Google is based on trading and selling your personal information. Now, ask yourself, do you think these companies would block a law which makes the sharing of this information easier? As for Listnook, SOPA threatened their very existence. Listnook is a site a where people could share pics and info from other sites, therefore could have fallen afoul of the restrictions in SOPA, and could have possibly forced Listnook to shutdown. But now, with CISPA, which doesn't target companies and websites, but individuals, Listnook has no stake to lose. That is why there is no big announcement that Listnooks execs will go on the warpath. CISPA does not affect their business plan like SOPA did, so why risk there necks by making themselves a target? What it comes down to is that web "giants" will fight anything that directly affects their business model, revenue stream and very existence tooth and nail. But when it comes to something that would solely affect their users, they could care less as long as they can exploit it to make some more money. Take a look at the penalties or fines that major tech companies have paid for privacy transgessions and compare that to the profits they made. Do you really think that these companies will fight to protect the very same people that they are exploiting as long as it doesn't affect their bottom line? That's why the powers be at Listnook have been so quiet. They have nothing to gain and nothing to lose vis a vis CISPA. So why should they put their corporate neck on the line for something which does not affect their bottom line and something that will not harm their business model should the act pass? Because it does not affect them, therefore they don't care. No business will pick a fight if they are not threatened, and Listnook is no different. Which is a shame. If Listnook lead as zealously in this fight as they did against SOPA, it could make a difference. Instead they opted for a tepid statement and a half hearted call to action.

As someone who has done very little research on CISPA and whatever other scary proposed legislation is currently threatening our internet freedom, I can say that it will be difficult to get people to care about it like we did with SOPA. I was well informed during that debacle (SOPA/PIPA), and I spread the information to everyone I could, but that almost makes CISPA seem even more insurmountable. I know this probably isn't the case, but to the average internet user it almost feels hopeless. Like no matter what we oppose, the government will just come up with a new scarier bill with a new name. I guess I'm saying it's going to be hard to get people to rally against CISPA like we did with SOPA because it feels like we already fought so hard against it to no avail.

**We need to be proactive.** Gather legal experts and the common knowledge of listnookors to draft legislation that protects the Internet's freedom, anonymity, and neutrality and submit it to our legislators. Calling/writing legislators to let them know we will not stand for this shit also helps.

I hope Stop CISPA catches on like Kony 2012 did, then something might actually happen.

I think there needs to be an act for internet freedom. I believe there was a post about it before and I believe it is completely necessary. Because the United Staes have passed a bill it will affect the word, I live in Australia and it will definitely affect me as well. It's just not fair

how about funding a lobby that would work full-time in DC and educate the legislators about these "cyber" issues - it could be staffed with individuals who have experience in IT and a passion for activism. Listnook has shown some deep pockets in the past, I bet we could make something work.

Am I the only one who read this and found it to be a series of meaningless platitudes without out taking any sort of stance?

I am happy to do an IAMA, I think the blackouts were powerful before but didn't really negatively influence 'everyday' people enough to make them consider the future under what is being short sightedly considered. Listnook doesn't just have an Opportunity, we have a Responsibility.

Nice one Listnook! I'm gonna try and do something. Maybe I'll make a protest pizza.

Forgive my ignorance, but how likely is CISPA to actually pass through in the Senate? Crazy/stupid legislation is passed by the House all the time, only to die a messy death in the Senate...and Obama has publicly said he'd veto the shit outta CISPA if it makes his desk.

Are there any bills that open the internet rather than close it so that we can affirm a free and private internet rather than constantly fighting off closures? I would much rather be for something than continually fending off an unending stream of noxious bills.

[removed]

We did so well on SOPA, lets not fall short this time.

----E ----E ----E Everyone grab a pitchfork

Make sure you stop by [/r/CISPA](/r/CISPA) for more info, and to ask any questions. We could use more readers.

>That’s the listnook that we’re proud to be a part of, and it’s our responsibility as citizens and a community to identify, rally against, and take action against legislation that impacts our internet freedoms. That's a good idea.

We could all support the opponents of the people who voted for it in the next election. With such a large and devoted following Listnook could be a very good interest group for the protection of internet freedom.

Does this mean the protest is off? :/ *puts pitchfork down*

It's the mentality that underlies all of SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA that needs to be fought. These bills can't be entirely dealt with one at a time - they'll continue to be re-hashed again and again. We need a much broader discussion about internet privacy and rights!

Besides resisting legislation, the most important thing Listnook could do is **innovate technology** to make it hard for something like CISPA to stick. **Make Listnook** **1. Decentralized.** **2. Encrypted.** This may sound like a throw-back to NNTP and IRC, but why not rebuild Listnook as a network of independent servers distributed throughout the world? These days, corporate software can have a substantial open source component, with feet in both worlds. Why can't a corporate social networking site have one foot firmly planted in technologies that radically protect the privacy of its users? The only thing that will stop these laws are technologies that make enforcement so costly as to be nearly impossible.

Let's pull a KONY. Agree on a date, elect a graphic artist to create an image and we'll all print it out and glue it to buildings. Fight fire with fire. Or is this mayhaps water I'm talking about?

Thank you! This is going to be an up hill battle considering the corporate support behind CISPA. If anything we need more involvement from the community this time around to compensate.

as i said before, the USA is becoming a police state, or rather a state like big brother from 1984. first they will flout the laws of your land, then comes freedom of speech, soon there will be drones going around, cameras everywhere and in the end a police force who will raid anyone without a warrent, check back in 5 to 10 years if you are lucky enough to be on the net and say what has happened. with new tech, quantum computers and nano robots, you can spy on anyone you wish and save everyones e-mail, anything. good luck from Britain, we will see it sooner

You know what I think we should do? I think we should write our own bill that will attempt to please both parties. Or send a proposal that would meet in the middle of both views.